Liquid-cooled molds for the continuous casting of thin steel slabs are described in German Published Patent Application 197 16 450 A1, in which two broad face walls are provided which lie opposite to each other and are each composed of a copper plate and a steel supporting plate. The copper plates bordering on a mold cavity are detachably fastened to the supporting plates by metal bolts. The metal bolts are welded to the copper plates. In this connection, a nickel ring is used as weld filler material. Welding the metal bolts to the copper plate causes a point by point heat input, which brings with it disadvantageous changes in microstructure at the welding location. In addition, it is necessary to inspect the welding connection in the case of the usually applied bolt welding method. If a metal bolt is damaged, it has to be removed from the copper plate in a costly manner and replaced by a new metal bolt.
It is also known to mount threaded inserts directly into a copper mold plate, so that the mold plate may be fastened by screw bolts to an adapter plate or a cooling-water tank. However, in the case of mold plates of lower wall thickness, in this context, the safety distance between the bore bottom of the thread bush and the casting surface of the mold plate may be undershot. Usually, a safety distance of about 6 to 25 mm is necessary to allow the reworking of the casting side.
If the sum of the depth required for screwing in the threaded sleeves, and the distance required for the safe operation of the mold plates, between the bore bottom and the casting side is greater than the wall thickness of the mold plate, only the possibility remains of switching to the use of other, less effective connecting methods.
European Patent Application No. 1 138 417 describes a liquid-cooled plate mold for the continuous casting of metals, particularly of steel materials, in which the mold plates are connected by clamping bolts to a cooling-water tank or a supporting plate, respectively. The clamping bolts, in this context, engage with parts of mold positioned on the water side of each mold plate that are connected to the mold plate with force locking by soldering connections or by electron beam welding.
In the case of this solution, it is a disadvantage that, as a rule, additional recesses in the cooling-water tank or in the adapter plate have to be provided, in order that they may accommodate the fastening pieces protruding from the side of the cooling means of the mold plate. Furthermore, complementing cooling means channels have to be put into the mold plate or the adapter plate.